Ahhw man! You’ll probably also end up asking why your employees are disengaged, and that new system hasn’t led to the amazing productivity boost outlined in your business case (if you wrote one 😉 ). Many leaders assume that change management will be irrelevant to their project, but change management principles can be applied to any project to good effect; for many projects, it’s absolutely essential to success.
My project is only small – so I can skip the change management
Perhaps you don’t need to hire a full time change manager, but applying change management principles is ALWAYS a good idea. Any change, large or small, requires commitment from your employees to a new behaviour or way of working. Change management will help you think through the business drivers for change, clear messaging on what, why and when things will be different, how you will measure success, and ongoing support. By implementing appropriate change management, your project will be more likely to “stick” with team members more engaged. A large part of change management is communications. This is quite literally how you engage with your most important asset: your people. Overlook that at your peril!
Change management is just fluff – I can do without it
If you don’t understand change management or you’ve not seen it successfully applied, perhaps it’s harder to see its value. Statistics vary but experts posit that around 70% of change projects fail, and this is largely due to poor or inexistent change management. To say that it is fluff, or that it’s easy and doesn’t require much time, fundamentally misunderstands its nature and its power.
I can’t afford change management – I’m spending enough already
The problem is, without proper change management your project is far more likely to fail, and you are thus unlikely to achieve the benefits that justify the project spend in the first place. The question you should be asking is: can you afford not to think through the business drivers and how you’ll get employees motivated behind them? Can you afford your staff to be ill-informed or disengaged from your project? Can you afford to have insufficient feedback channels and support options?
All this change planning will slow us down – we don’t have time
Change management planning doesn’t have to be onerous or time consuming – but it shouldn’t be rushed or skipped. The main thing is that you are really thinking through your change and how it affects the people in your business. Then, taking the time to thoughtfully share your objectives with staff, and listen to their feedback. It will absolutely be time well spent and will help your change go smoothly and quickly. If you avoid it, you may find the change itself is slow and painful – or fails completely.
There are already too many stakeholders – I can’t bring anyone else in
Getting some advice or consultation from a change manager will play a key role in making your project a success. Of all the stakeholders you could potentially have in your team – it’s one of the most important. If you can’t bring a full time change manager into your team, consider seeking some part time consultative advice (happy to help – just saying!). Consultants can also bring a useful external perspective and be more likely to convince sceptical stakeholders with their examples of successful change.
To the naysayers out there – give change management a proper chance and see the results for yourself.
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